This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/166,367 entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING A DISCOUNT TO A CUSTOMER THAT PARTICIPATES IN TRANSACTIONS AT A PLURALITY OF MERCHANTSxe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 5, 1998 in the name of Jay S. Walker, Andrew S. Van Luchene, Magdalena Mik and Daniel E. Tedesco; and is further related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/166,405 entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DEFINING ROUTING OF CUSTOMERS BETWEEN MERCHANTSxe2x80x9d filed on Oct. 5, 1998 in the name of Jay S. Walker, Andrew Van Luchene, Daniel E. Tedesco, Magdalena Mik and James A. Jorasch, each of which is assigned to the assignee of the present application and each of which is incorporated by reference herein as part of the present disclosure.
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for creating and maintaining customer information.
Many quick-service restaurants and other businesses have a xe2x80x9cdrive-throughxe2x80x9d which allows customers to place an order and also receive the ordered items without exiting their vehicle. A typical drive-through is a roadway equipped with a speaker and microphone to allow a customer in a vehicle to interact with a cashier operating a remote point-of-sale (POS) terminal.
A drive-through allows customers to make purchases more conveniently, and consequently businesses with drive-throughs tend to promote customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.
However, applicants have recognized that drive-through customers may be provided with additional benefits. In particular, drive-through customers may be provided with customized benefits in a manner not addressed by the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide drive-through customers with customized benefits.
In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus is provided for generating an image of a license plate and determining license plate characters from the image. Then, a database is searched to determine if there is a customer record that corresponds to the license plate characters. If so, the customer record is retrieved and information about the customer is available. Otherwise, a customer record is created. The created customer record corresponds to the license plate characters and stores transaction data that represents a transaction.